Tom Harpur's "Right to Die.".

Tom Harpur, writing in the Toronto Star, December 12, 2004, called for much improvement in "care of the dying." He held that the terminally ill "have a right to die on their own terms and in accordance with their own values and decisions." He referred, approvingly, to a recent book about physician-assisted suicide as presenting the case for doctor-assisted suicide "rationally and tenderly." One of this book's authors, Timothy Quill, M.D. helped a patient commit suicide in 1991.

Catholic teaching holds that a patient has a legal and moral right to refuse treatment that is excessively burdensome, but has no moral right to refuse treatment that is necessary and which is not an excessive burden. A physician has no legal right to treat a competent patient without his or her informed consent. However, it is not morally right for a patient to demand, or for a physician to suggest or cooperate in, any "care" of the patient that is, in fact, immoral. Doctor-assisted suicide and euthanasia are intrinsically evil acts.

The right to "act on one's own terms" is morally valid only if such terms are in keeping with true morality. One's "own values and decisions" do not entitle one to break God's law. Harpur is just plain wrong in his understanding of true care for the dying, and of the relationship of the law of the land and of "self-determination" to true morality. [John B. Shea, MD FRCP(C)]

Editor's Note

Euthanasia and assisted suicide are entering the realm of respectability in Canadian society, or so we would be led to believe by the new slogans that defend its use and those who champion it: dignity of life; defenders of freedom; champions of truth; welcoming the "good" death. Canadians should get ready to fight euthanasia now.

In addition to these expressions, the media and pro-euthanasia enthusiasts are also promoting the term "compassionate homicide." Resist this usage. It is another example of the deliberately deceiving language of the modern hedonists such as "terminating pregnancy," or a "procedure to remove a fetus" for aborting a preborn baby; or "therapeutic" when no healing takes place," or "ending discrimination" for legalizing same-sex relations.

The following references are a starting point for a natural law position: the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) no. 2276-2279; 2280-2283; 2324-2325; the encyclical Gospel for Life (Evangelium vitae) (1995) with many references to euthanasia by Pope John Paul II; and, Euthanasia: Recent Declarations of Popes and Bishops, 20 pages (1983, reprinted 1995) published by Life Ethics Information Centre, a non-profit company, and available from the C.I. office at three copies for $5.00 (incl. mailing). See also information available from the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition of Canada. Tel: [phone]